Nonshear Deformable Theory for Analysis of Steel Beams Reinforced with GFRP Plate Closed-Form Solution

The present study complements recent published work by developing a general closed-form solution for the analysis of steel beams reinforced with glass-fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) plates under general loading and boundary conditions. Comparisons against three-dimensional (3D) finite-element (FE) solutions indicate that the solution accurately captures the transverse-longitudinal and predominantly lateral responses. For predominantly torsional responses, the solution is shown to provide good predictions when the shear modulus of the adhesive layer is weak. For cases where the shear modulus is stiff, the present theory is found to lead to an overly stiff response. Careful examination of strain profiles as predicted by the 3D FE analyses provides valuable insight on the reason for the overly stiff behavior in such cases and shows the necessity of incorporating transverse shear deformation effects into the formulation. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.